Some important implications of Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019

Recently, the Union cabinet approved the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill that has proposed some heavy penalties for traffic rules violations. The amendment now comes with some strict measures to deal with traffic violations in order to bring down the increasing number of road accidents and to cultivate responsible practices in how the roads are used by the Indian citizens. Here are some important implications of the motor vehicles amendment act 2019 you will have to know.

Motor vehicles amendment Act 2019

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019 has brought in some amendments to the provisions found under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Earlier the same bill had been passed in the Lok Sabha in the April of 2017. Since it could not get the clearance of the Rajya Sabha, it lapsed eventually with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways tabled the bill in the Lok Sabha and the same was now passed this time successfully.

How does a challan work before and after the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019?

A challan is an official text that the traffic controlling officer writes in a piece of paper and issues to the violator of traffic rules in India. If the challan is issued in an individual’s name, he or she is liable to pay the traffic fine as listed in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The e-challan system introduced by the new amendment replaces the use of physical paper. Right from the breaking of traffic rules by the person and issuing of the challan through the payment of the corresponding traffic fine, there are several stages involved in the process and all of them have now been digitized by the amendment.

The new e-challan system is a CCTV enabled one. The CCTV cameras installed in important locations on the Indian roads continuously record the footages of the ongoing traffic. When a motorist is seen violating the traffic, it will be recorded by the CCTV camera. The police will then trace the number of the vehicle from the footage recorded and register the offense in the records.

The traffic police will find out the details of the vehicle and its owner from the Regional Transport Office (RTO). Once the details are received, the traffic police will send an SMS on the registered mobile number of the violator detailing the kind of violence, date, time and the details of fine or punishment according to the existing laws.

The owners of the vehicle can pay the fine on the e-challan either online or offline. The traffic authority in India has created a dedicated website for paying the e-challan directly. The e-challan issued to the vehicle owner will have a unique serial number. This number has to be entered in the box provided on the site and the payment has to be made online. Alternatively, you can also pay the e-challan in offline mode by visiting the nearby police station.

Third party insurance

The government will launch a scheme for treating the road accident victims during the golden hour. Yet another scheme will also be launched to provide interim relief to the claimants who seek compensation under the third party insurance. The minimum compensation has been now increased from Rs. 25,000 to 2 lakh rupees in case of death and from Rs. 12,500 to Rs. 50,000 in case of grievous injury. The bill also needs that the government will institute a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund to provide compulsory cover to all the road users in India. The fund will be used to compensate the victims of hit and run accident.